Far From Thermopylae by Belinda Harrison

Author:Belinda Harrison [Harrison, Belinda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gee Be Publications
Published: 2019-05-27T06:00:00+00:00

25

The cold robbed me of my breath when I hit the water. The shock of it, along with the inability to use my left arm properly, hindered my progress back to the surface and I struggled for long moments before I came up coughing tiny pebbles and water. I groped about for the litter, holding tight when I found it.

I drew in deep breaths and surveyed Demetri’s face and head. There was no blood or bruises to suggest that any of the rocks had hit him on the way down. Even so, I put my hand on his stomach. The slow rise and fall was still there and I closed my eyes, thanking Asclepius again.

Numbness had taken over my body from the tips of my toes to just under my armpits, my chest expanding in exertion even as my teeth chattered. The rate the water was rising, there was a chance we would be spat out onto the path above within half a candlemark. I could just wait but with the temperature of the water, I quickly dismissed the option. I would not survive more than another few minutes in the cold; the parts of my body that were not already numb, burnt with the pain of their impending fate.

As if sensing my fear of what was to come, a warmth started at my chest. At first, I thought one of Helios’ rays had heightened enough in the sky to stream down onto me, but then my shoulder blades started to itch and the curious bright orange glowed out from the amulet.

I shivered as Mother Alexis appeared in front of me, bobbing with the rising water at Demetri’s head. She smoothed the hair from his forehead. “You shall freeze to death if you stay here,” she said, meeting my eyes. “Use the amulet to save yourself.”

“Only if it saves Demetri too,” I told her. “Mumma wanted me to use the amulet against him. But I will not risk his life … her life just to have mine. It has to save us both.”

Mother reached out, her fingers wisping across my cheek in a tender gesture. “My sweet girl. As you have grown I see your loyalty and kindness for those you care for has not diminished. You have my word that no harm shall come to Demetri if you use the amulet here.” She smiled as she spoke and the pain and injustice of her loss hit me again with such fierceness that I found it hard to swallow around the lump in my throat. This was my mother. She had tended every scrape and cut, every fever and cough I had suffered with tenderness and care until the day she died. She would not lie to me.

I nodded as my shoulders prickled. I struggled and freed myself of my chlamys and cuirass, laying both on top of Demetri in case my wings emerged again. I drew the pouch from between my breasts, sliding the amulet out. It warmed my fingers and arm, but it was not nearly as hot as it had been on the Plain.

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